The University of Limerick recently announced the appointment of former The Irish Times editor Geraldine Kennedy and Sunday Times columnist Justine McCarthy as Adjunct Professors of Journalism.

Ms Kennedy and Ms McCarthy are two of the most respected women in Irish journalism, and will take up their appointments on September 1 for a period of three years.

University of Limerick President, Professor Don Barry said: “These appointments further cement the position of the journalism programmes at the University of Limerick as being at the cutting edge of journalism education in this country.”

Head of Journalism section Tom Felle said the appointments were a tremendous boost to journalism education at UL. He said; “Journalism students will be working alongside two of the most important women in Irish journalism. Anyone considering a career in journalism will now have the opportunity to be trained by some of the best journalists in the country at the University of Limerick.”

Professor Kennedy, who retired as editor of The Irish Times in June 2011, is one of the country’s most decorated journalists. She has personally unveiled corruption and law breaking by leading figures in politics during a 40-year career at the highest levels in national newspaper journalism. She holds five honorary doctorates from Irish universities and was conferred with an honorary doctorate by the University of Limerick in March this year.

Professor McCarthy is a columnist with the Sunday Times has holds a number national journalism awards. She is one of Ireland’s most respected political and cultural commentators and she has also emerged as one of the country’s best-known societal polemics over the past three decades, and is a noted investigative journalist, breaking stories in the social affairs and clerical sex abuse arenas. She is the author of books including Mary McAleese: The Outsider, and Deep Deception: Scandals in Irish Swimming.